


Vines Aound Our Hearts

by fatedfeathers



Series: Soulmate Wingfic AUs [1]
Category: Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Wings, And Also Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Both of them, F/F, M/M, No Dialogue, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, There Is Literally One Line of Dialogue, Your Wings Are The Same Color As Your Soulmate's Eyes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 12:43:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7845421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fatedfeathers/pseuds/fatedfeathers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caleb molts early.</p><p>Ben molts late.</p><p> </p><p>Two ends of the spectrum, and many in between.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vines Aound Our Hearts

If eyes were the windows to a person’s soul, it made sense that the color of one's wings reflected their soulmate’s eyes. Of course they needed to be able to recognize their true match by something more than just the color, because not everyone had completely unique eye colors.

That's why when one's wings molted to match their soulmate's eyes, they developed a mark on the inside of their right forearm. They ranged from simple swirls to intricate vines, but one thing was certain- the only mark exactly the same as your own was your soulmate's.

Most kids molted towards the end of middle school or the beginning of high school, although there were some outliers. Caleb Brewster was one of those outliers.

He started molting halfway through his first day of middle school, the downy grey fuzz and underdeveloped feathers itching and loosening to the point where a trail of fluff followed him where he walked. His teachers eventually sent him home, where he spent the rest of the day shaking his wings and halfheartedly grooming out the down.

By the time Caleb woke up the next morning, his wings were already starting to show their new color in patches. Interspersed through his light grey fledgling feathers were areas of sleek, dark blue-gray. He stood in front of his mirror with his wings spread, staring at his new feathers, for what felt like forever. Occasionally, he would flap his wings as best he could in the limited space of the bathroom, trying in vain to reveal more of the stormy blue feathers.

Molting could take up to a week, though, so Caleb had the first week of school excused to care for his wings. Over the course of the week, his wings went from being a patchwork quilt of mostly down with scattered areas of the stormy blue feathers to sleek and blue all around. On the last day of his molt, his right arm began to itch and hurt with the forming of his mark. The area was red and tender to the touch by the time he went to bed, but when he woke up his arm was covered, elbow to wrist, with a delicate lattice of vines, twisting and trailing all around his arm and even into the back of his hand, one vine curling around the base of his thumb.

The sixth grader went back to school that day feeling important, the first of his friends to molt and develop his mark. He showed off the design on his arm proudly when his friends asked, rolling up the sleeve of his jacket dramatically.

Abe was impressed by the mark, but then again everything impressed him. His father's wings were a practical shade of earthy brown, an eye color Abe had inherited from his mother, and his mark was a simple double helix curling around the underside of his wrist, but not all the way around.

In fact, most people in their town had simple marks like Mr. Woodhull. Caleb’s was far and away the most intricate pattern most people his age had seen. It led to speculations on whether or not Caleb’s soulmate came from out of town.

Anna and Abe were in agreement that Caleb’s soulmate would move to Setauket, while Mary and Rob thought that she-  _ or he _ , Caleb added on mentally- could already be living in Setauket. Everyone looked to Ben to break the tie, and the taller boy shrugged, his wings drawing in tight the only sign of his moderate discomfort. Caleb clapped Ben on the shoulder, exclaiming that he was right, what did it matter if his soulmate was from town or not?

Caleb grinned, looking at Ben out of the corner of his eye. He took in the stormy blue-gray color of his eyes and, only for a moment, allowed himself to hope. Only for a moment, though, before burying the feelings at the back of his mind. It couldn't be Ben; he wasn't that lucky.

\------

Middle school flew by with the only real drama being when Abe molted and though he didn't have a soulmate because his wings stayed gray and his mark didn't develop right away. His father nearly disowned him until he finally presented with a pair of interlocked infinity symbols running around his wrist almost a week after his wings molted in eighth grade.

A few weeks later, his father ended up disowning him anyways when Rob molted and turned out to be his soulmate.

Mary molted over the summer between seventh and eighth grade, around the same time as Anna, though they weren't soulmates.

After the girls molted, Ben was the only one of the group who had yet to molt. He didn't mind, something he repeated any time someone brought up the fact that he was verging into the outliers of the statistics on the side that made people worry.

Early molting was fine. It happened sometimes. Late molting brought up concerns; what if one didn't have a soulmate? Early cultures would burn anyone at the stake who hadn't molted by eighteen, as they thought they were devil-spawn, born soulless. Though that wasn't the tradition anymore, it still made people question. When junior year came and went and Ben still hadn't molted, the whispers only grew.

Caleb, upon hearing the rumors, could only scoff.  _ Tallboy, soulless? _ It was enough to make any of Ben’s close friends laugh, even Anna’s soulmate Abigail who hadn't met him until the start of sophomore year.

Ben was the kind of person who volunteered at the local animal shelter, and did all he could to help the community when he could. Volunteering aside, he was one of the top students in their class, and he was on the varsity swimming team. He was going to go to Yale; he was sure to get a scholarship.

But superstition was a powerful thing. Even though Ben's father, the local pastor, gave sermons about accepting everyone for who they were (with pointed eye contact towards Abe’s father, who was still upset about Abe and Rob), people still whispered about  _ that Tallmadge boy who still hadn't molted, now isn't that strange? _

Ben shrugged off all the whispers and rumors, cut through them like he cut through the water as team captain, his wings held close to his back to streamline his form and oiled to shed the water. The team was doing better than they had in years, until the coach benched him.

When confronted, Coach Rodgers said simply that Ben was  _ bad luck _ . Ben quit the team, but didn't let the words get to him. He kept his head high, showed his wings with pride.

While Ben was seemingly unaffected, Caleb was worried. Ben was his best friend; seeing the distant look in his stormy blue eyes whenever soulmates or his wings came up as the topic hurt him, and he was filled with a curious urge to wrap the taller boy- when had he sprung up so much, Caleb wondered, had Ben always been this much taller than him?- in his own wings and shield him from the comments and whispered insults.

But Caleb didn't voice his thoughts, instead hiding then in the same box as his never-forgotten hope that Ben might be… He closed the box again.

\------

Ben graduated valedictorian of their class, with Rob a close salutatorian. He spoke in his speech of the close bonds of friendship helping him get through his high school career, of his hopes for the rest of their class. He never once mentioned soulmates.

After the ceremony, Caleb retrieved his cap ( _ he had put effort into it, wasn't going to waste all the work by losing it _ ) and approached Ben, grinning. He clapped him on the back, barely brushing the edge of one of his wings with his hand, but it was enough. A small shower of down fell from Ben's wing.

Ben was finally molting.

\------

A week and a half later, Caleb finally saw Ben again at the blonde’s graduation party. He blinked when he saw Ben's wings- a familiar brown-tinged green- but smiled and went to hand him the card he’d chosen for his friend.

He froze when Ben reached to accept the envelope with his right hand. A familiar vine curled around the base of Ben's thumb. He looked up to meet Ben's stormy blue-gray eyes, to see the other boy smiling broadly down at him.

Caleb opened the box.

  
“I hoped it was you, Tallboy.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know I should be working on I Want to See You Soar, but this popped into my head and I had to write it. II'm sorry guys. I'll try to work on I Want to See You Soar soon, promise.


End file.
